


Progress of an Innocent Bystander

by Gwynne



Category: Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-12-24 05:27:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12006003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gwynne/pseuds/Gwynne
Summary: What was in store for Ivan and Tej after Ylla?





	Progress of an Innocent Bystander

There was a long silence.

Byerly sighed, “I tried to warn you.”

 

Wind the clock back.

 

Two long dreary years of Yllan exile from Barrayar were finally over. Well, that was the story Ivan was trying to feed his family, but the Consul’s delight at the way Ivan had relocated the Consulate from a cold, miserable industrial city to a tropical paradise had been freely expressed in his letters home. Also the way Ivan streamlined the work so that it was all done much more efficiently, and in far less time. At least Ivan was able to tone the Consul’s blissful official reports down a little. But several other consulates had followed the Barrayaran example, and their delight at the change had, apparently, been communicated to their home worlds, and then to the Barrayaran political communities there, and so back to Barrayar. 

“Diplomats – Nexus-wide – are like a Vor class all their own,” Ivan gloomed to Tej before they left Ylla, “Doesn’t matter where they come from, they gossip worse than my mother and her army of Vor dowagers. Now I’m getting snide comments from My-Cousin-the-Dread-Auditor about what an easy time we had of it. I mean – all I did was improve local conditions a little. We still had all the same amount of work.”

Tej, wisely, ignored the grumbling. It was mostly based on worry about where he’d be posted next. If Gregor was still upset with them, they’d probably be sent off to some other, far worse, posting for a few more years. If the situation had settled down then Ivan would probably fill a spot in Ops for the last few years before his twenty years was done. And since that situation included an obscenely huge amount of money that had been paying for better transport systems, medical facilities, educational improvements and fleet upgrades, The Gregor should be in a much better mood by now.

They took their time going home. Tej was reminded again about how her family now stretched across several worlds.

First, as a special treat for both of them, they headed for Beta, “Although we should do this last. We’re going to need something after the other visits.” Ivan wasn’t looking forward to the rest of their planetfalls. 

Tej grinned, “I love Gran’tante Naismith. She reminds me of the Duronas, a little. And Grandmother, a very little.”

Ivan nodded, “And Aunt Cordelia. And my mother. I’m surrounded by strong women.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.” Tej squeezed his hand.

“Besides, I was thinking of…”

“Oh yes, of visiting my old tutors!”

Ivan didn’t flinch. He’d had practice. “That too. But really I was thinking about our visit to the… the Orb.” His voice was slower, with a deeply respectful tone.

Tej nudged him, “Are you sure you want to go? I mean, it could be a risk. What if they find something terrible in your psychological interest survey?

He leered at her, “What’s left to discover? Anyway, we’re almost the last in the family to go there. I’m not going to miss out. But… it’d be better to go there after visiting all the family. We’ll need to work off the tension.”

“If we go before, we’ll be tension-free when we see them.”

He shook his head sagely, “It won’t last past the first thirty seconds.”

As it happened, the afterglow of a week at the Orb took them through the farewells to Gran’tante Naismith and the jumps to Escobar. It easily lasted through meeting Kareen Koudelka. Most of it survived Amiri. The glow dimmed considerably on contact with Mark. Still, Amiri was Tej’s favourite brother. Kareen was Ivan’s favourite Koudelka. And Mark was….Mark. Escobar wasn’t too bad.

Then more wormhole jumps – Ivan made sure he’d got some really good meds from the Duronas, so Tej survived it fairly well.

And so to Jackson’s Whole. This would be followed by Sergyar, and some time with Aunt Cordelia and Uncle Aral – and it said something that a week with them looked restful after time with clan Arqua. 

The first day wasn’t too bad. Tej was busy catching up with Rish, sharing gossip and looking over the new additions to Cordonah House headquarters. Ivan tried to avoid By.

Day Two they had to learn the new security drills, just in case. And fend off some embarrassing hints about babies. And subtle hints about the opportunities available for the two of them, should they choose to stay. Ivan let By hang around.

Day Three was a tour of the new on-planet facilities, some socialising with possible business contacts, and stronger hints about the Deals they could be making instead of wasting time going back to Barrayar. Ivan went looking for By for some more congenial (by comparison) company.

Days Four and Five involved a lot of gritted teeth, fixed smiles, and subject changing. Ivan developed a strong distaste for his sisters-in-law, and the Baronne as well. On the evening of Day Five By and Rish double dated with Ivan and Tej for a restful dinner in one of the best restaurants on the Station. The good work was rather undone by Pidge pointing out later that they could at least manage a restaurant, surely that wasn’t beyond them, and it’d be marginally useful to the Family. 

Day Six – wasn’t a good day. The Baronne, Star and Pidge tag-teamed to take shots at Tej about her lack of usefulness, and to make snide remarks about it being time to trade up to a better Deal for a new husband, since her only value seemed to be on the marriage market. 

“Thank goodness you’ve had the sense not to breed yet. You can cut all ties to that lump and start fresh.”

“Don’t want to leave it too long, your looks are all you’ve got, really.”

“It’s about time you did something to pay the family back for all those years of training and support.”

“Surely you’ve got him out of your system now, it’s time to settle down and do something useful. Or someone.”

“Tej, you can’t just drift along being so useless.”

“Stop.” Ivan’s voice was quiet, but there was a thread of steel in it that cut through the Arqua babble. “You will stop speaking to my wife that way.”

Pidge rounded on him, “She’s our sister and we’ll talk to her any way we want.”

Ivan stood up. Even in this tall company he suddenly seemed to tower over them, “Tej is my wife. Nobody bullies Lady Vorpatril in that way. Nobody tells her that she needs to be fixed, or changed, or that she’s not good enough. She’s perfect as she is.”

Udine stood to face him, eye to eye, “As her mother I can speak to her any way I choose. And I only want her to – ”

“You want her to be more like the rest of them.”

“Yes, I do.”

“You want her to be more Jacksonian.” 

“Yes, she should be.”

“To stop being soft, and gentle, and to have a hard edge like the rest of your children.”

“Yes, of course.”

“And then you could love her.”

“Ye- no wait, that’s not…”

Ivan leaned forward, almost nose to nose with her, and started speaking in a deadly-quiet voice that none of them had heard from him before. 

“Madam, my father was killed fighting to save myself and my mother, before I was even born. My mother gave birth to me as she lay on a dirty floor, while armed men searched the alleys outside to find and kill us both. She didn’t dare scream at the pain. My aunt beheaded a man when he threatened her child, and brought the head home in a bag as a gift for her husband. My uncle changed a whole empire so that his son, and his foster son, could be safe. Our parents risked their lives, gave their lives, and changed worlds, because they loved their children. I wasn’t the best son in the world, and I know my mother would have liked me to behave differently, but I never doubted her love for me. She never made change the price for her love. “

Ivan paced away, then turned back to Udine, “You – you made your children so carefully, to get just what you wanted. Half of your children are colour-coded copies of your ego.” He glared around at the Jewels. 

“And as for the rest – your eldest son sold you out to torture and death. For money.” He waved towards the coffee table, its cryogenic circuits humming almost silently. Then he turned to Star, “And your eldest daughter, the Security expert, failed dismally when your House was under threat.”

He stalked over to Star, “You’re fine when you’re facing House servants who aren’t allowed to risk hurting you. But when it came to the real thing you were blindsided, all you could do was run like a scared bunny. A single unarmed Barrayaran took down House Ryoval. You – you wouldn’t be any challenge at all.”

He spun towards Pidge, “And the marvellous lawyer, the diplomacy expert, had no clue about a massive conspiracy going on around her. And you were no use at all to stop it. Well done. You have all the people skills of a rock.”

A step back towards Udine, “And your other son won’t even stay on the same planet as the rest of you.” 

He waved an arm towards them all, standing frozen in shock and anger, “And you all have the unmitigated gall to criticise my wife, who’s got the courage to stand up to all of you, and to be herself no matter what pressure, bullying and blackmail you bring against her. The only one that wasn’t carefully designed. The natural one. You call her the control child? Well then, the rest of you are failed experiments.”

He reached an arm towards Tej, who gripped it tightly, and stood beside him. She carefully didn’t make eye contact with her family as she and her husband left the room. She also, carefully, didn’t smile. Much.

 

There was a long silence after they left.

Byerly sighed, “I tried to warn you. Ivan … isn’t as easy, or simple, as he appears.”

Shiv leaned back in his chair and smiled slowly, “I’ve always liked that boy. He’s good for Tej, too.”

The storm burst around him as the Arqua offspring all voiced their outrage. The Baronne was silent, watching her husband. Finally she sighed, and nodded. “No. Not simple at all.”

The last few days of their stay on Jackson’s Whole passed…. quietly. Everyone was very polite. Some of the siblings sulked for a while until they realised that Ivan regarded their silent treatment as a plus. 

Ivan found his father-in-law viewing him with thoughtful approval, which was somehow even more worrying than the vague disapproval from the Baronne. 

Their week on Sergyar was, by comparison, quite restful. The earthquake, a minor volcanic eruption, a shattering conversation with Cordelia about the decisions involved in child production, and a review of his career by Aral, were mere blips on the horizon. 

And then it was time to go back to Barrayar, and find out what Gregor had in store for him.


End file.
